Zine Swap Round IV (May 2021 - October 2021)

Round V is up:
www.talkphotography.co.uk

Zine Swap V: January - November 2022

Got a project on the go that you never finish? Got a set of photos that tell a story? Why not publish them in a Zine and share with a group on here? This is a group project where all participants make a zine over the course of a year, then exchange it with everyone else taking part. This...
www.talkphotography.co.uk www.talkphotography.co.uk
 
Cloudforest said:
what a great bunch of zines they are.
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I've only got half of them and I'm blown away. Some really good photographers here, and (for me) it's the approach and the imagination I find inspiring.
 
Harlequin565 said:
Round V is up:
www.talkphotography.co.uk

Zine Swap V: January - November 2022

Got a project on the go that you never finish? Got a set of photos that tell a story? Why not publish them in a Zine and share with a group on here? This is a group project where all participants make a zine over the course of a year, then exchange it with everyone else taking part. This...
www.talkphotography.co.uk www.talkphotography.co.uk
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Hoping I can contribute one again next year, feel like I'm missing the party this time around!
 
londonbackpackr said:
View attachment 338464

Hope its OK to post an image of the covers from this round.

Also do we give/get feedback on the zines? As its the first time I've done one, I wouldn't mind some good or bad, to know what works and what didn't. Personally I think mine was OK but would be helpful to know what others think.

George
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I'm very happy to give feedback and receive (good, indifferent or bad!) it, I was waiting to see if the Royal Mail had been kind to Ian @Harlequin565 and he had received all his copies yet before I posted anything,
 
In terms of feedback, my view is that it's fine to do that. This is a forum after all, and I'm perfectly capable of taking what I like & leaving the rest. Not everyone is like that though, so I try and give feedback in a positive way - especially saying what I enjoyed with the zines. Also bear in mind that feedback/critique wasn't part of the OP, so it's not expected.

Looking through them (The Industrial Tourist arrived yesterday, finally completing my collection!) it's clear that some thought went into each and every one. This isn't a "here's my latest landscape with a 10 stopper and a rock" that needs the same bland critique about rules of thirds, and foreground interest. This is a wholly different thing. The thinking that goes into the creation is as much a part of the outcome as the images themselves. If anything, I feel my images take more of a back seat to the story I'm trying to tell. For me - the zines with a bit of an intro or history tell me that the author actually cares about the subject and has tried to pull a series of images together.

They are all clearly very different, and I like to feed back about what it is I enjoyed about each one, whether I learned something, and if any content inspired me. Personally, I feel that at this level of photography, the authors are quite comfortable with their [photographic] capability. As an example, I left quite a few scratches and dust spots on my photos deliberately. Sure there was a CBA element, but for me, it added to what I was trying to get across.

Critical feedback is a bit more tricky, certainly for me, because I don't truly know the thinking (& intent) behind the zine and I don't have access to that "pool" of images from which the final selection was drawn. I am left to trust that the author made the right choice, and draw my conclusions and feedback from there.

Just reread this and it comes out as a confused mess, but I'm not capable of straightening it out. I really think encouraging feedback is great. And if there is any critical feedback, then say what you mean, mean what you say, but don't say it meanly!
 
Harlequin565 said:
In terms of feedback, my view is that it's fine to do that. This is a forum after all, and I'm perfectly capable of taking what I like & leaving the rest. Not everyone is like that though, so I try and give feedback in a positive way - especially saying what I enjoyed with the zines. Also bear in mind that feedback/critique wasn't part of the OP, so it's not expected.

Looking through them (The Industrial Tourist arrived yesterday, finally completing my collection!) it's clear that some thought went into each and every one. This isn't a "here's my latest landscape with a 10 stopper and a rock" that needs the same bland critique about rules of thirds, and foreground interest. This is a wholly different thing. The thinking that goes into the creation is as much a part of the outcome as the images themselves. If anything, I feel my images take more of a back seat to the story I'm trying to tell. For me - the zines with a bit of an intro or history tell me that the author actually cares about the subject and has tried to pull a series of images together.

They are all clearly very different, and I like to feed back about what it is I enjoyed about each one, whether I learned something, and if any content inspired me. Personally, I feel that at this level of photography, the authors are quite comfortable with their [photographic] capability. As an example, I left quite a few scratches and dust spots on my photos deliberately. Sure there was a CBA element, but for me, it added to what I was trying to get across.

Critical feedback is a bit more tricky, certainly for me, because I don't truly know the thinking (& intent) behind the zine and I don't have access to that "pool" of images from which the final selection was drawn. I am left to trust that the author made the right choice, and draw my conclusions and feedback from there.

Just reread this and it comes out as a confused mess, but I'm not capable of straightening it out. I really think encouraging feedback is great. And if there is any critical feedback, then say what you mean, mean what you say, but don't say it meanly!
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Good grief, my zine took a long time to reach you! I could have walked it to your house quicker!

I will try and do a review of the zines over Christmas, I’ve been working flat out recently but finish work for a week and a half on Wednesday. Which is nice:)
 
Feedback!

I've put it in spoiler tags so that a) it has less chance of influencing your thoughts, and b) if you don't want feedback, don't click!

"New Brighton", by @Allan.H
This is a great cover image and as a Martin Parr fan, I was really looking forward to the content. New Brighton is somewhere we would go when the girls were younger and I loved that feeling of a seaside town. I thought the brief intro was perfect for the content. The images are beautifully laid out and there is clear effort in the composition (or cropping!! :)) as they all look really neat and tidy on the page. My favourite image was the pigeon shot (opposite the lighthouse) with the empty seats and the cold grey sky highlighting the semi-decline. And that's what I took from this. It isn't about an area that's falling apart. It's about something old fashioned that is trying to keep its head above water. I really liked it.

"99.9%" By @FishyFish
Taken from an Alex Webb quote about how many street photography photos might end up in the bin, this is (presumably) Nige's 0.01%... And I really liked it. There is a bit of everything in there, and I liked how images were grouped on facing pages with a degree of care and thought. The compositions were also again - very tidy. The people-in-silhouette images, and the heads-obscured images were my favourites as they were a little bit different to stuff I've seen before. Probably worthy of a zine on their own IMO. The lady asleep on the back seat of the car was really nice too. That lighting was perfect.

"One" by @gjhill
This gets a 10/10 for presentation. One forum member who's probably glad there weren't a ton of entries! I thought the presentation with the little clips to hold it together was brilliant. An eclectic mix of images with a dabble in most styles, but the overriding theme comes through in all of them. My favourites were the monochrome ones, with the shadow on the skirting board and the lamp both being images I could see as prints on a wall.

"Memento Mori" by @londonbackpackr
The work of Simon Marsden was what got me in to photography more seriously if I'm honest, and his work very much showed me photography can be about something more than just recording what's in front of the lens. This little zine was a treat and the black gothic look was right up my alley. Overgrown cemeteries can be very tricky to photography and the monochrome treatment has worked really well here. IU really liked the bits of text running through the zine too. Again this showed care and thought in the subject . Great logo on the back page too!

"White Heat Under Threat" by @Mr Perceptive
Really dramatic cover image here and the font was brill. I was immediately reminded of the film "Threads", and the empty streets and brutalist architecture really reinforced that feeling. The strong compositional skill alongside flat lighting and clever use of lines and perspective make for a compelling series of images. I don't think we'll see buildings like this any more, and eventually I would imagine most will be gone. A salute to the past.

"Unseen" by @yamahatdm900
This is why zines are so great in my opinion. As a photographer, you can take a subject that's very personal to you and just go with it. Once it's done, it's done, and it provides a comprehensive way to start and finish something. This feels like it's been a niggling project in the back of someone's mind for a while, and I loved it. The humour in the "men at work" sign did make me chuckle. I'm repeating myself here, but the compositional skills are really sublime and the work with light & shadow (the cover image says it all really) is very nice indeed. One things for sure - Graham knows how to work with an underpass :) It's not so much about finding beauty in the ugly, but about working with the framelines to tease out something worthwhile from a scene that lots of people probably walk past and either ignore, or wish it wasn't there. Cracking job IMO.

"The Wood" by @Cloudforest
Another eclectic mix of images tied together with the introduction and a few lines throughout. From a beautiful scenic woodland, to a faint footprint in cracked mud, it feels like a contemplative zine from another photographer who has taken something seemingly ordinary and turned it into something a bit special. This isn't just a stroll in the woods, this is an introspective view of the place the photographer is in. The sun flare through the trees with the huge slab of rock - immobile and indestructible is a beautiful image, and this contrasts with the lost dog poster showing that indeed, within the beauty, there is danger. Especially if you're a dog!

"The Industrial Tourist Vol:3" by @viewfromthenorth
I do enjoy urbex photography and this zine was the last one to arrive, and was the cherry on the icing on the cake of a bunch of great zines. Another study of the past and the future past, all the images have some real crunchy contrast and dark moody skies. Brierfield Mill is a wonderful image, with the explorer using the windows of the building to frame the subject. I thought this was stunning. There's a lot of urbex out there that likes to plonk scantily clad ladies in gas masks into the scene and this is the diametric opposite, showing a care and sensitivity to these "old folks". Much like with David and Allan's zine, there was a real sense of wistful sadness looking through these pages. Finally, I really liked the display. A square book allows for nice presentation of both portrait and landscape orientated images, and the "overlap" of images drifting into a third of the facing page allowed for some big images to be shown in a small package.


Overall, I was once again, blown away by the quality of the zines. There was a lot of variety, but I was struck by how many referenced looking at the past as a subject. I wonder if the "type" of photographer that takes part in something like this will create work with a similar backbone, or is it simply coincidence? Allan, David, Peter, George, Andy & Graham all turned out work that left me feeling a little wistful & slightly sad. The times they are a changin' as that lyricist once said.

Thanks to all who took part. I feel quite honoured to have been a recipient of these zines. And they were free too! What's not to like :)

On to round V :)
 
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I know I wasn't part of this swap but if any of you have spares I'm more than happy to buy a copy of you.
 
MrDrizz said:
I know I wasn't part of this swap but if any of you have spares I'm more than happy to buy a copy of you.
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I'm fairly sure that money changing hands wasn't allowed, although I am happy to send you my effort for nowt, if you PM me your address.

If any others wish to sell their zines, I'd suggest a classified ad (feel free to tag someone who has expressed interest in purchase) to avoid breaking the rules.
 
MrDrizz said:
I know I wasn't part of this swap but if any of you have spares I'm more than happy to buy a copy of you.
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The Modernist Shop in Manchester have taken copies of my Zine (the first batch of 10 have sold out, so I've just sent them 10 more!!)

the-modernist.org

White Heat Under Threat - photo zine

PHOTOS BY DAVID YEOMAN A photographic record of some of Manchester's 1960's UMIST science and engineering campus - currently under threat of redevelopment. Images include the Renold Building, Pariser Building, Barnes Wallis Building, Faraday Building, Maths and Social Sciences Building and...
the-modernist.org the-modernist.org

But seriously, drop me a PM, I still have a couple of spare copies, happy to drop one in the post - just make a donation to a charity of your choice (or buy a coffee for the TP team) :)

www.buymeacoffee.com

talkphotography is the UK's premier Photography forum

If you enjoy TalkPhotography please buy us a cuppa, thanks.
www.buymeacoffee.com www.buymeacoffee.com
 
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Mr Perceptive said:
The Modernist Shop in Manchester have taken copies of my Zine (the first batch of 10 have sold out, so I've just sent them 10 more!!)
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That's amazing David - well done!

Has anyone else had success selling their zines? I'll confess I've not bothered simply because I don't think there's a market for it.
 
Harlequin565 said:
That's amazing David - well done!

Has anyone else had success selling their zines? I'll confess I've not bothered simply because I don't think there's a market for it.
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I've sold quite well single copies of the Dinorwic Squares and Slate Truck zines, most buyers came from Twitter or Facebook, but I've had two zines picked up by The Modernist Shop in Manchester - which has resulted in bulk orders (more than covered the printing costs - but the subject matter has to fit their 'Modernist' brief)

I need to be careful here to create future zines for me, and not play to a potential market (a bit like taking photos for yourself rather than likes!)
 
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@Harlequin565 .
Thanks for the positive comments
My original plan was to clip them all together down the spine but
The paper was too thick to allow it to be read as a book, the photo's were printed too close to the edge.
Luckily grandson number one came up with the idea of using 'his' clips
 
Harlequin565 said:
Has anyone else had success selling their zines? I'll confess I've not bothered simply because I don't think there's a market for it.
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My Lonks on Show zine has sold enough to recoup costs, as did my poultry book. But they have target audiences. Word of mouth and Facebook was how they got sold. I'd always avoided FB but it is definitely the way to get stuff seen. None of the others zines I've done have sold, although I haven't made any effort to market them!

I suspect that zines with a subject are more likely to sell if the audience can be found and marketed to, more conceptual zines are only likely to appeal to other zine makers/fans, and I think getting them to part with their cash is harder!

Just my thoughts.
 
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MrDrizz said:
I know I wasn't part of this swap but if any of you have spares I'm more than happy to buy a copy of you.
Click to expand...

Harlequin565 said:
That's amazing David - well done!

Has anyone else had success selling their zines? I'll confess I've not bothered simply because I don't think there's a market for it.
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I'm happy to send one out, got to get rid of them some how DM your address and I'll post it after Xmas.

I've sold a couple, mainly to people who showed an interest when I was doing the photography, also done a few swaps and sent to a couple some friendly podcasters.
 
londonbackpackr said:
I'm happy to send one out, got to get rid of them some how DM your address and I'll post it after Xmas.

I've sold a couple, mainly to people who showed an interest when I was doing the photography, also done a few swaps and sent to a couple some friendly podcasters.
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That's very generous, let me at least pay for postage.
 
BTW

An easy way to take payment (if you have a PayPal account) and promote zines is to set up an 'instant commerce' thingy. No website required and can be linked easily through FB and Twitter. I'd post a link to one of mine but it would break forum rules!
 
Harlequin565 said:
Feedback!

I've put it in spoiler tags so that a) it has less chance of influencing your thoughts, and b) if you don't want feedback, don't click!


"Memento Mori" by @londonbackpackr
The work of Simon Marsden was what got me in to photography more seriously if I'm honest, and his work very much showed me photography can be about something more than just recording what's in front of the lens. This little zine was a treat and the black gothic look was right up my alley. Overgrown cemeteries can be very tricky to photography and the monochrome treatment has worked really well here. IU really liked the bits of text running through the zine too. Again this showed care and thought in the subject . Great logo on the back page too!


Overall, I was once again, blown away by the quality of the zines. There was a lot of variety, but I was struck by how many referenced looking at the past as a subject. I wonder if the "type" of photographer that takes part in something like this will create work with a similar backbone, or is it simply coincidence? Allan, David, Peter, George, Andy & Graham all turned out work that left me feeling a little wistful & slightly sad. The times they are a changin' as that lyricist once said.

Thanks to all who took part. I feel quite honoured to have been a recipient of these zines. And they were free too! What's not to like :)

On to round V :)
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Its been a manic week and first chance to really sit down and read this. Thanks Ian for the review :)
 
@londonbackpackr has their name in lights today. :)

www.35mmc.com

Memento Mori - The making of a Zine - By George Griffin

The Industrial Revolution changed the world forever. The coming of mechanised production was a shift from a mainly agricultural society to a technological one. London was the first city affected by this as the Industrial Revolution originated in the UK. As London grew it swallowed up great...
www.35mmc.com
 
Ooh.. Podcast too... Congrats George!
 
FishyFish said:
@londonbackpackr has their name in lights today. :)

www.35mmc.com

Memento Mori - The making of a Zine - By George Griffin

The Industrial Revolution changed the world forever. The coming of mechanised production was a shift from a mainly agricultural society to a technological one. London was the first city affected by this as the Industrial Revolution originated in the UK. As London grew it swallowed up great...
www.35mmc.com
Click to expand...

Harlequin565 said:
Ooh.. Podcast too... Congrats George!
Click to expand...

Thanks guys :) I was down with Covid over Christmas and and isolating, and decide to write it for Hamish. It's worked out quite well, as I've made a few more sales.

That reminds me @MrDrizz are you still interested in your freebie :)
 
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londonbackpackr said:
Hey guys

Have anyone ever sent zines to Russia? I've had someone contact me about mine and wants to buy one.

Are there any difficulties in sending stuff there or have I just got that 80s paranoia:eek::D
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If they've sent you a stamped addressed envelope, for gods sake don't lick the glue strip ;)
 
Nothing serious to add...
 
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londonbackpackr said:
Hey guys

Have anyone ever sent zines to Russia? I've had someone contact me about mine and wants to buy one.

Are there any difficulties in sending stuff there or have I just got that 80s paranoia:eek::D
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Are there any restrictions because of sanctions?

If not a courier might be better than just send via Royal mail.
 
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